NICU Check up

Libby had a NICU check up today. Since she's a preemie they want to do periodic checks on her to make sure she's developing properly. Today was her second check up. Her first went so well that they let her wait til she was 6 months past her due date to do another one. (The first one she was a little less than 2 months past her due date). Today went (mostly) fabulous. She got evaluated by a developmental specialist in cognition, language and fine motor. Then she got evaluated by a physical therapist for her gross motor skills and how she handles her body in general (does she lock her knees when standing, when tilted does she seek to upright herself, etc.) The physical therapist raved over and over about Libby and how well she did. She kept saying how advanced she was, how excellent she was doing, at one point she even said that Libby was so perfect in her skills she could be a baby on a teaching DVD to show therapists what to look for in development! She ended our session by telling me that most NICU babies that come back are not nearly at the level Libby is at.

The other evaluation went well too. For cognition, Libby scored as high as she possibly can. (85-115 is average and she scored 115!) For fine motor she was pretty much right where she should be but for language she didn't do so well. She was at the very low end of average for her adjusted age. Granted, there were 2 things the therapist asked if she could do, and she can, but she didn't. So they can't score what they don't personally observe. I think had she done those things she would probably have been right in the middle of where she was supposed to be. The doctor, when telling me the results, said that the one area preemies struggle with-if they are going to struggle-is language. I have a friend who had her daughter at 27 weeks. She's now a vibrant, active, super strong and advanced in gross motor skills 3 year old but she is behind in her language. So it was interesting to hear that it was totally normal and expected for preemie babies to be behind in that. The doctor was confident that based on her cognitive scores alone Libby would be totally fine.

The down side is that because she scored low on her language we have to go back in August, when she's 12 months past her due date. Hopefully she cooperates and we get the total all clear to never return again!